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"I Had No Idea About Pricing": Starting a Business Without a Roadmap

Fresh out of corporate life in 2019, Sarah had a vision to launch her own compliance consulting practice but found herself grappling with fundamental business questions. Despite her expertise in helping companies navigate employee benefit plans and health insurance compliance, she struggled to package and price her services effectively. Her target market was clear — insurance brokers who needed support in maintaining compliance for their employer clients — but the business model remained fuzzy.

"I didn't know what our offering was exactly, how to clearly describe that, and I had no idea about pricing," Sarah recalls. She knew she needed guidance but wasn't sure where to start. After discovering Consulting Success through their podcasts and blog posts, one message resonated deeply: the pitfall of hourly billing. This insight sparked her realization that she needed a more scalable pricing model.

Like many new consultants, Sarah faced the challenging decision of investing in business coaching. "I had to convince my business partner slash husband to get on board with it," she shares. "But I knew that I couldn't do this without some help. I was going to spend a long time struggling and learning the hard way for years about what I was offering and how much to charge for it." The fear of years of trial and error pushed her to seek expert guidance.

From Confusion to Clarity: The Power of Expert Guidance

Within three months of starting her business, Sarah joined the Clarity Coaching program. Working closely with her coaches, she quickly developed a clear service offering and value-based pricing strategy. The program's combination of one-on-one coaching and peer group interactions proved invaluable, offering perspectives from consultants across different industries.

"I knew I needed help on our situation, not just sort of general help from a blog post or something," Sarah explains. Her success came from a crucial mindset: implementing exactly what her coaches advised. "If you're going to do something, don't do it your way. Do it the way that the experts tell you," she emphasizes. "I tell myself imperfect action, they know what they're talking about. If I implement it, it's probably going to work, and then I will just do more of that."

This implementation-focused approach led to immediate results. Sarah began charging more for assessments, jumping from $1,200 to $2,500, and secured her first major client for $13,000 within weeks. "That allowed us to have some runway for a few more months to really get going," she notes. The peer group sessions also provided unexpected value: "What surprised me was how much I got from hearing other people that are not in my industry at all. We share ideas for processes or how we charge for fees and how we outline our discovery offer."

The 7-Figure Breakthrough: How Implementation Led to Success

Five and a half years later, Sarah's business has transformed dramatically. What started as a startup consulting practice has evolved into a thriving enterprise generating $1.5 million in annual revenue. Her team now includes two full-time consultants and six to seven contractors, serving a robust client base of insurance brokers across the United States.

The business model has also evolved significantly. "We don't now do the one-time project work very much. Instead, we moved to a monthly retainer-based model," Sarah explains. "That's like a paycheck every month from 20 different clients." This stable, recurring revenue model came directly from insights gained through the Clarity community. "I remember Michael and Rob reviewing proposals in the forum and helping me to come up with three different options—good, better, best—for our very first go at this monthly stuff. We still to this day use that same proposal format."

Sarah remains an active member of the Clarity community, citing ongoing returns on her investment. "I'm still here five and a half years later, and the reason is because it has returned the investment many times over. I mean, I can't even quantify how much — 10 times, 15 times, more…" she shares.

Key Takeaways

• One of the most important changes Sarah made when joining Clarity was transitioning from hourly billing to value-based pricing. By understanding her true worth to insurance brokers, she doubled her fees and created "good, better, best" proposals that reflected her value. Transitioning from hourly fees is imperative to breaking free from the time-for-money trap.
• Sarah's shift to a monthly retainer model transformed her business from project-based work to predictable revenue. Like many consultants, she started with one-off projects but learned how to structure ongoing client relationships. This shift is crucial if you want to build a sustainable practice that scales beyond your personal capacity.
• If you want to grow your consulting business, you must embrace implementation over perfection. Sarah's success wasn't just about her expertise — it was her willingness to trust the process and take “imperfect” action. In our Clarity Coaching program, we teach you proven frameworks, but more importantly, we show you exactly how to implement them.

Work With Us To Grow Your Consulting Business

In our Clarity Coaching program, our coaches have helped over 1000 consultants to build a more strategic, profitable, and scalable, consulting business. To discover how we can help grow your consulting business:

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